Out of the Dust

A smelly and grimy man climbs onto Billie Jo’s train car. He asks her about herself and then shows her a photograph of his wife and three sons. Billie Jo gives him two of her remaining biscuits. The man asks if she has any water, and she shakes her head. After the man is done eating, he chastises himself aloud for taking food from a child. Billie Jo shows him she still has a few biscuits left to make him feel better.

The man explains that he left home because he lost his land and could not feed his family. Like Billie Jo’s father, the man could not get his crops to grow. In response, Billie Jo tells the man about her life and how she left her father alone. The man falls asleep while she is talking, but Billie Jo continues to speak anyway. Eventually, she finishes and falls asleep too.

When Billie Jo wakes up, the man and the remaining biscuits are missing. In their place is the picture of the man’s family. Billie Jo promises herself she will mail the picture to the man’s wife the first chance she gets, so she knows her husband is still alive. Billie Jo continues riding the train to Flagstaff, Arizona. When she arrives, a government employee spots her and gives her food and water. Once she is fed, Billie Jo calls Mr. Hardly and asks him to let her father know she is going to come home.